Nothing to be shy about… meet our first Gold Standard coffee!

Now and then, we find an incredibly special coffee. And since our Head of Coffee is so good at hunting them down, we decided they all needed their own category! Introducing Gold Standard – coffees that are game-changers, taste-makers or just simply delicious.

The Nyiramasoni Donatille is the perfect first example with cuttingly clear blackcurrant and black tea flavours, a delicate orange aftertaste and an elegant grape-like acidity. All that and a syrupy sweetness makes this a coffee for your most important guests only (using the china you keep for royalty, of course!).

First time meeting Nyiramasoni Dontille

We first met grower Nyiramasoni a little while ago… and her coffee actually first appeared in our Gold Dust range!

Traditionally, Rwandan coffee is collected together at purchasing points near washing stations in the region. Small lots of coffees from a range of farming families are bundled together, and processed as one single lot of coffee. These are the coffees Will usually gets to taste when he visits Rwanda – and there’s a lot of them about, so he searches for the ones that are truly quality.

In 2017, he and Alloys (son of Pact favourite, Epiphanie, and manager of the Bufcoffee washing stations) were invited to the homes of some local coffee-growing families. And at Nyiramasoni’s home in particular, Alloys gave Will the chance to taste some coffee he had processed from her crop.

It was immediately obvious this was something special. Her tiny patch of land produces just two sacks of green coffee a year, and only one was left to pick and process at this time – so Will snapped it up immediately.

An incredible coffee in its own right and a rare example of a truly single estate coffee in this region.

Striving for perfection: how we helped Nyiramasoni push for more

Nobody and nothing is perfect. Which is great, because it means something which is already amazing can be made even better. And when Will first visited the farm, he noticed a few areas for improvement in terms of farming processes – just in terms of fine-tuning the basic principles of farming.

Using the money we raised through the Gold Dust series, on his next visit Will headed out to the local shop – and it might as well have been the Rwandan version of B&Q. Here was his shopping list:

Manual spray canister

Face mask

Pruning saw

Pruning shears

…a goat!

It might be difficult to see how these items fit together, so here’s a breakdown…

Delivering these handy tools (and their new farmyard friend!), Will bought sweets and cakes to say thanks for her work with Pact so far – though she immediately donated these to the local kids much to their delight.

This Phase 2 project meant Nyiramasoni could grow higher quality coffee, and more of it! We bought everything from her next crop cycle after these improvements had been made, and that is why we can give you the chance to try this Gold Standard again.

Taste the results of hard work… and blackcurrant with black tea notes!

Even though production has gone up for Nyiramasoni Donatille, this is still a small-scale farm… so it’s now or never if you want your own taste of ‘perfection improved’! Like syrup in your mouth, and notes of blackcurrant and black tea on your tongue, this is a Gold Standard you won’t forget… even after the last cup is long finished. Buy it here.

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Pact Coffee keeps you topped up with incredible tasting freshly roasted coffee. We travel the world looking for the best beans, sourcing our coffees directly from farmers and paying at least 25% above Fairtrade prices to help sustainable production. Sign up on PactCoffee.com and tell us how often you'd like a delivery.